Nut and retainer.



E. A. GREEN.

NUT AND RETAINER.

APPLICATION man JULY 5, 1912.

Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

14 .iEi-

WITNESSES: //V [/5 IV TOR Wary/5. 51611,

M W W A TTOR/VEV EDWARD A. GREEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

NUT AND RETAINER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

Application filed July 5, 1912. Serial No. 707,891.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. GREEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of ook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Nuts and Retainers Usedin Connection with Threaded Bolts, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a nut and its retainer, the latter beingdesigned to be held in a stationary position by its friction with thethreads and mechanically locked for rotation with the nut when appliedto the bolt, but so constructed that the nut and the retainer can nevercome into bearing engagement with each other in a direction longitudinalof the bolt shaft throughout their travel on the bolt.

The principal object of the. invention is to provide an improved,simple, inexpensive and efiicient device of the class described, whichwill require no special preparation or tools to apply, the application,adjustment and removal being performed with any usual or well-known kindof wrench and with little more labor than is required with an ordinarynut.

For the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new anduseful objects, as will appear, the invention consists in the featuresof novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of theseveral parts, generally shown in the accompanying drawing and describedin the specification, but more particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a view of the top or crown of a nutconstructed in accordance with the principles of my invention; Fig. 2 isa view of the adjacent face of a retainer which is applied to the nut,showing also the radial distortion of the retainer at opposite points initscircumference, the distortion being considerably magnified forclearness; Fig. 3 is a side view of a bolt, showing the nut and itsretainer when applied thereto; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3,showing a modified form of the nut and its retainer.

In the present exemplification of the invention, the nut need not differin general form or dimensions from the standard nut, but has, as anadditional feature, one or more (preferably two) lugs projectingoutwardly from its crown face, which are designed to engagecorresponding recesses in the adjacent face of its retainer. Theretalner 1s a tubular member internally threaded to correspond with thebolt and has in one of its faces one or more slots designed to engagethe corresponding lugs on the adjacent face of its nut. After theretainer is formed, it is slightly distorted at one or more points inits circumference (preferably at two opposite points disposed at anglesof 90 degrees or substantially a quarter of the circumference from therecesses). This distortion from a true circle causes the threadedsurfaces to bind at these points when applied to the bolts withsufficlent friction to enable the retainer to perform its only function,viz: that of holding its position on the bolt shaft and preventing inthe presence of vibration the tendency of the nut to rotate on the boltshaft. The retainer, due to its material and more particularly to itstubular cross section, possesses' resilience which enables it toco1npensate for the wear in the threads. The device may be removcd andre-applied many times without losing its effectiveness; theeffectiveness may be increased at any time bv a light stroke of a hammeror the like. The nut itself forms the wrench for the retainer,therefore, no extra tools or operations are required to apply, adjust orremove the device.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, a nut shaped member 6 ofany desired or suitable number of parallel faces is provided withprojections 7. preferably two in number and disposed at diametricallyopposite points in one face or in the crown of the nut. Theseprojections are preferably rectangular in form and are of a heightsubstantially greater than half of the pitch of the threads and need notbe of a greater height than substantially twice the pitch, but, ofcourse, may be of any height suitable to engage the retainer. Theretainer consists of a tubular member 8 internally threaded and formedwith recesses 9 corresponding with and adapted to receive theprojections 7 of the nut so that the retainer may be superposed upon thenut with the projections of the latter engaging in the recesses of theretainer. In form, the retainer is slightlydistorted from a truecircular form by being flattened or compressed radially at one or morepoints in its circumference, preferably at two opposite points at anglesof 90 degrees with the recesses 9.

Although the nut and its retainer are de-- scribed as having twoprojections and recesses, it is obvious that any number of projectionsand recesses may be provlded and they .may be of any desired size orshape.

The nut and retainer may be applied to any threaded member, such, forexample, as a bolt 10 having a threaded bolt shaft 11 and represented inthe present exemplification of the invention as employed to hold twopieces of material 12 and 13 together. The nut and its retainer areassembled so that the projections of the nut engage with the recesses inthe retainer and they are threaded together. upon the shaft ofthe bolt.

The recesses of the retainer are so disposed with. respect to theprojections of the nut that the retainer will not engage with thethreads of the bolt shaft when the face of the retainer is in closecontact with the crown of the nut. In other words, in the preferred formthe retainer will not engage the threads of the threaded shaft untilafter the nut has been slightly threaded uponthe shaft, leaving a spacelet between the nut and the retainer, as shown in the drawing. Thisinsures that the face of the retainer and the adjacent crown of the nutwill not be in contact at any time so that the pressure upon the nutwould be transmitted by hearing contact with the retainer to the latter.The only place of engagement between the nut and its retainer is on thesurfaces of the projections 7', which contact with the faces of therecesses 9 and since the recesses are sufficiently deep'to prevent theprojections from engaging them at the bottom, the only point of contactwill be between the lateral face of each projection and; thecorresponding side face of'the recess. The distortion of the retainer issuflicient to firmly grip the threads ofthe bolt shaft 11, so that it ispractically impossible for the nut to Work loose evenunder severevibration and even if the threads of a member to which the nut is to beattached are greatly worn,

the distorted portions of the shaft member.

Fig. 4t illustrates a modification of the in vention in which the nut isprovided with recesses or slots 15 and the retainer with correspondingprojections 16 The operation and results are the same as with theconstruction previously described and for some reasons this latterdesign might be preferred. i

' It is obvious that the retainer cannot be threaded upon the bolt.shaft or removed therefrom without the movement of the nut itself, and.although the threads of theretainer are distorted, it requires only aslightly greater effort to move the nut and the retainer upon the boltshaft 11 than to the threads of the retainer are effective to grip thethreads of move the nut alone for the reason that the pressure of awrench or other moving device is directly applied to rotate the nut andthe retainer, whereas the vibration which the nut may be subjected towill not cause the rotation. of the retainer because of the grip whichthe threads of the retainer have upon the bolt shaft.

The advantages of this device, when compared with double nuts, checknuts, grip nuts, and the like, are apparent, first, for the reason thatthe holding member or nut is absolutely locked against rotation to itsretaining member and does not impart any of its load or hearing strainto the latter; second, the application of the retainer does not add tothe load or hearing strain as is the case in double nut practice; third,the retainer, unlike other frictional devices, Clasps the threads in anormal manner and tends to form them rather than to destroy them;fourth, the improved retainer is not subject to the influence ofvibration to the same extent that a nut is, its ratio of weight to thethread area is much reduced, approximating only one-eighth that of astandard nut in all sizes. Also, on account of its resilient section. itis held in firm contact with its bolt at all times.

It is a well-known fact that the inertia of a nut on a threaded bolt,subjected to severe vibration, is the chief cause of its loosening onthe threads and turning off, as it produces independent motion betweenthe thread surfaces, causing them to wear, and the usual practice oftapping nuts oversize to make them free on the threads, tends to hastenthis effect. This action is particularly apparent where the direction ofvibration is vertical to the longitudinal axis of the bolt and rapidlyincreases in ellect as the nut becomes looser on the bolt. It is,therefore, evident that as the ratio of the thread area to the weight isincreased, this injurious action between the bolt and the nut undervibration will be reduced, and in aninverse ratio. This ratio in thedevices cited is not subject to reduction nor can their walls be maderesilient, for as their retaining members having no rotative connectionwith their holding members, they must both be provided with wrenchingsurfaces, and since there is no means for preventing a bearing contact,they must be of equal strength.

By designing the retainer tubular in section and not too heavy topossess the desired resilience, the threads may be distorted radially atone or more points in the circumference, thus forming a section thatwill bind with a spring-like action radially upon the threads of thebolt and will, automatically compensate for the wear between the twothreaded surfaces, due to vibration of the nut and to application andremoval of the retainer. The distortion of the tubular portion extendsthroughout its length and may be increased as desired, for example, by aslight tap of a hammer or the like. The distortion. or flattening isusually so slight that it is scarcely noticeable to the eye but iseffective in operation to produce the desired result.

While I have thus described the preferred embodiment of my invention, itis evident that others may make various changes in the construction,combination, and arrangement of the several parts without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In combination a nut, a bolt, a retainer therefor threaded on theinside with an unbroken spiral thread and compressed to grip the threadsof a member to which it is applied, said retainer and nut having theiropposing faces separated, and connections between said retainer and nutwhich loosely engage each other.

2. In combination a nut, and a retainer, the nut and the retainer beingprovided with corresponding projections and recesses whereby themovement of the nut may effect the movement of the retainer, the threadsof the retainer being so disposed that the face of the retainer and theadjacent crown of the nut are not in contact when the retainer is inposition and when the projections are in engagement with the recesses.

3. In combination, a threaded bolt, a nut, and a retainer for the nutwhich consists of a threaded and distorted tubular member, the nut andthe retainer being provided with means which prevent theirinterengagement in a direction longitudinal of the bolt shaft.

4. In combination, a nut, a bolt, and a sep arate retainer, the retainerbeing tubular in form and equally distorted throughout its entire lengthby compressing it at two opposite points in its circumference wherebythe retainer threads are brought into locking engagement with the boltthreads and caused to bind on the latter, and means for preventing thenut from rotating on its threads into such a bearing contact as wouldtransmit the strains of the bolt through the nut to the retainer.

5. As an article of manufacture a nut having parallel sides foradjustment and removal and being provided upon the crown of the nut withprojections substantially greater in height than the thread pitch, and atubular threaded retainer of resilient material less in thickness thanthe nut, having slots in the edges of one face of the retainer toreceive the projections of the nut and being distorted by compression attwo points diametrically opposite and at substantially 90 degrees fromthe slots, the threads of the retainer being so disposed that when thenut and the retainer are applied to a threaded member, the retainer willbe spaced from the face of the nut and in engagement with theprojections thereof, whereby the pres sure on the nut will not betransmitted by bearing contact upon the adjacent face of the retainer.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 3rd day of July, A. D.1912.

EDWARD A. GREEN.

Witnesses:

KENT W. WONNELL, CHARLES H. SEEM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

